Top 15 stories from 91 across 7 days
State lifted Delcy Rodríguez’s personal sanctions 18 months after freezing her U.S.
Why it matters: Sanctions relief unlocks dollar banking for Caracas, giving Biden leverage just as oil majors eye new drilling licences.
Tucked inside a $1.5 trn Pentagon ask: $152 m to reopen Alcatraz as a super-max, a political billboard for Trump’s “criminal justice” stance that dodges the usual DOJ appropriations.
Zelenskiy’s Damascus stop gave Assad rare Western face-time while Kyiv backs a Russian ceasefire draft Israel quietly encouraged, signaling Ukraine wants Arab capitals in its corner more than NATO rhetoric.
Backpacks packed with C-4 were found 100 m from the Serbia-Hungary gas line; Belgrade says the gear matches U.S.
JD Vance framed Orbán as a bulwark against Brussels, handing the PM a U.S.
New detail: Vance put Trump on speaker; the line dropped mid-endorsement, turning the rally into a meme within hours.
Israel hit IRGC sites inside Iran; Tehran answered with rockets near Haifa, forcing civilian airports and oil terminals into emergency shutdown. Brent crude jumped 4 % and Lloyd’s hiked war-risk premiums before Europe
JD Vance is stumping in Budapest, an unprecedented US endorsement of Orbán days before Hungarians vote. It puts Washington at odds with Brussels, which is still withholding €6.
Israel hit Beirut’s southern suburbs for the first time in three months, killing 15 and prompting Hezbollah to promise a “direct response.”
Home Office lawyers are testing whether Kanye’s antisemitic posts breach the “exclusion on conducive grounds” standard. Wireless sponsors have already threatened to pull £12 m if he lands.
Artemis II astronauts sent 8K Earth shots via iPhone 17, but a third toilet pump failure has already cut water reserves by 18%.
Trump said the U.S.
Trump told Tehran to reopen Hormuz by 23:59 GMT or face strikes on refineries, ports and power grids. The ultimatum comes as two US carriers steam toward Bahrain.
Artemis II swung 252,756 miles out, beating Apollo 13’s distance record and keeping Orion’s systems green after six days. NASA now has real flight data for the 24-day Artemis III landing profile.
UN investigators say an Israeli tank round killed two peacekeepers; Hezbollah explosives killed a third, contradicting both sides’ denials.
